I

INDUSTRY

lndian Telecom

Towards a Greener Future

telecom equipment and incentive for their adoption, and a framework for
monitoring carbon emission and corrective action for telecom sector.

Equipment vendors such

as

Ericsson, tower companies including Bharti Infratel and network services

provider GTL are investing big bucks in bringing out green products and solu-

tions to slash their operating costs. While a pan-India deployment looks some time away, up to 20Vo reduction in energy requirements is achieveable in
the near future, said industry experts.

The going green mantra

In recent times, telecom companies are switching over to new sustainable energy sources to operate their towers.

The lndian telecom is all set lor a greener touch with the renewed push lrom the regulatory body, TRAI, lor the use ol eco-friendly green equipment in the

Presently, there are more than three lakh towers in India that run with ap-

telecom and ICT sectors.

proximately 2 billion liters of diesel per year by emitting 5 million tons of COz per annum with the operating expenses of $1.4 bn, i.e., almost one-third

of the total operating expenditure. Op-

ike every other industry on the planet today, the global telecommunications industry is becoming conscious of the consequences of climate change. Indian telecom industry, which has been witnessing unprecedented growth for over a decade now, is also following suit by gradually shifting its focus towards sustainable and eco-

sel and opt for greener technologies. The government also seems to be geared up to encourage a discernible change in the power usage pattern of the telecom in-

dustry.
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) report, the Indian telecommunication sector contributes 2-2.5Vo to the global carbon emission. The figures are all the more alarming for the developing countries like India. Consequently, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) also crme up with a consultation paper on'green telecom' which offers guidance for the use of eco-friendly equipment in the ICT sector. The paper addressed critical issues like the options to reduce the carbon footprint in the telecom industry, the need for carbon credit policy for the sector, standardization of green

erators usually spend almost twothirds of their total costs on network, and in states like UP and Bihar, almost 40Vo of towers are stationed in rural areas where there is a huge power
shortage, and hence the operators have

to depend on diesel-powered generators and other cooling equipment for

running the towers. Many of these generators are as old as 10 years and are not effrcient in terms of usage of diesel

friendly operations. This is where

'Green Telecom' steps in. In fact, 'Going green'is now a necessity rather than an option for telecom

operators, thanks to nose-diving margrns due to tariffwars. With energy expenses amounting to nearly 25Vo of the total network operating costs, efficient

and consume more diesel than required. Moreover, as the towers installed are quite old, they consume more energy, i.., from 1000-3000
watts. This in turn releases huge volumes of carbon dioxide into the eco system. This method is uneconomical and unfriendly to the environment.
Undeniably, energy consumption is

power management holds the key to improving their performance. Operators are therefore exploring all possible
ways to cut down its dependence on die-

the major operating expense for both

I The Analysl
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2011

lndian Telecom

The telecom sector is providing lakhs of jobs,

This may create signal problem to the

people living near the edge of the circle in

level, air pollution level, etc. near the cell

but it is also giving cancer and other serious health problems to lakhs of people, besides causing harm to birds, animals, trees, etc. The telecom sector claims that it is the fastest growing industry, but it is also creating the fastest growing health problems, and that is the reason why health and environment ministries are afterthem. The telecom sector says that it is providing the cheapest services in the world, but ittakes money from even the poorest of the people in the country and also gets government subsidy; and then nearly 40o/o ot
the total collected money goes to foreign ven-

towers. Monitoring must be done by a

third party, and extremely heavy penalty must be handed out in case of any violation, as it is directly related to the health of the people, birds, animals, trees, environ-

the beginning; hence, a public announcement must be made that it is be-

ing done to protect the health of the

people. The people must be educated about the adverse health effects of cell phone and cell tower radiations.
Once the power transmitted

ment, etc. All the people living close to the towel who have suffered from high radiation, must be compensated. lt should come
under the corporate social responsibility.

is reduced,

power amplifiers may not be required at most of the places, and no cooling will be required. This will reduce the energy requirement substantially, which can be
easily managed with the renewable energy sources.

Greater emphasis must be given to R&D to develop better solutions.

dors. lf the technology had been developed and manufactured in lndia, the money would have remained within the country and also
created millions of jobs.

lndigenous development and lndian

manufacturers must be given preference. The government must make a rule that at least 90% of the telecom-related products

Recommendations to reduce

0nce the power requirement is reduced, DG will not be required in most of the places. This will also save the diesel subsidy amount of Rs 1 ,400 crlyear,
The above measures will reduce carbon footprint, thereby generating carbon credits.

carbon lootprint

The government must adopt immediately a policy to reduce the transmitted power

must be manufactured in lndia. This will help create millions of jobs in lndia, and also most of the money will remain within the country.

to a maximum of 1 to 2W, which will protect the health of the people from the harmful effects of cell tower radiation.

Self-certification/regulation must not be allowed. The government must enforce

stringent policies to monitor the radiation

Girish Kumar

Professor, Electrical Engineering Department

llT Bombay, Powai, Mumbai

fixed and mobile network operators.

Nevertheless, the sources of power are narrow in most of the developed nations. According to Girish Kumar, Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Bombay, "There are more than 4.5 lakh towers in the country as of

there is a need for the government to act promptly on the right time. The govern-

posed green telecom project would re-

ment should make a call to think beyond carbon-emitting sources like diesel to shift towards greener energy
sources such as wind, LNG (Liquefied

duce 5 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and save $1.4 bn of cost for the tower companies.

Further, a few industry experts

have recommended certain ways for ef-

Natural Gas), PNG (Piped Natural

Gas), CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and so on. Among the renewable enerry sources, solar is the cost-effective energy source that can be produced on a large scale in rural areas. Presently, the op-

ficient i*plementation of

20LI and due to shortage of power

nearly 59Vo of the requirement is met through diesel generators and this
causes pollution."

green telecom. They are: "All new telecom towers should be running on the renewable/green energy with a 407o load fac-

Hence, a few corporates have been going green to reduce their carbon foot-

tor; all operators should roll out a plan to move all towers from conventional
energy to renewable energy as stated in point l, and by March 3L, 2020 no tower should be running on conventional energy; all network components should reduce their energy usage 57o YoY for the next 5 years and 2Vo YoY aftenvards if not running on renewable energy; and inefficient gensets (older ones) should be replaced in the next two years."

print. According to an industry report, all these factors will continue to converge over the next several years and

erators enjoy 307o subsidy for renewable energy, and in the recent budget, the government has announced 50Vo
subsidy for solar projects. Also, unnecessary subsidies on diesel should be diverted towards efficient usage of renewable energy sources.

will grow to represent 46Vo of the $277 bn global

'green' network equipment telecom infrastructure market by 2013.

Deploying renewable sources

Companies are taking up CSR strategres in an attempt to gain competitive edge. Their'go green' strategies are focused on better technolory, renewable energies, improving efficiencies and network sharing. At the same time,
I The Analyst

According to India's iGovernment website, "A total of 250,000 cellphone towers can be converted to the renewable energy solution, including 32,500 from GTL Infra, 100,000 from Idea Cellular, 50,000 from Reliance Infratel,

The renewable revolution

However, some sections of the industry have expressed concerns over implementation. They have made an appeal

and another 30,000 from Bharti

Infratel." Analysts opine that the pro-

May 2011

41

lndustry

$ C Khanna

r Uikram Tiwathia..

"'Going gteen' has become a necessity in a market where margins are constantly teducing due to tailll leductions and increasing cost ol inputs lor service providets and manufacturets."
The lndian telecom sector is aspiring for enuironmentally sustainable techniques t0 telecommunicate. How do you see this trend?

S C l*ranna: Indian telecom sector is going through an unprecedented phase, resulting in massive expansion of the telecom nehvorks across the country. The growth of telecoffi, though having a corresponding impact on environment, is assisted by the green telecom initiative undertaken by the member senrice providers. The growth of green telecom poses an upward trend elicited by the deployment of alternate sources of energy and enerry-efficient technologies by the senrice providers, which directly impact the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG). Tltis era of green revolution opens up new avenues for the development of green technologies and optimum utilization of alternate sources of energies. Senrice providers, with government support, aim to bring about a revolutionary change in the possible usage ofrenewable sonrces of energy and thus help in the considerable reduction of GHG emissions. Vikram Tiwathia: As energy costs continue to climb, businesses around the world are looking for new ways to consen/e energy and resources. This is especially crucial for the telecom sector, \Mith enerry expenses constituting a major chunk of

and QUALCOMM, 4s also the telecom infrastructure providers INDUS Towers and VIOM have proactively committed themselves to the cause of energy efficiency, clean energy and climate change mitigation by investing in a host of telecom products and senrices that are increasingly contributing to-

wards building a greener tomorrow, while helping the

country's economy. Senrice providers have in place 'green
powey' programs, exploringthe use of awide range oftechnologrs, such as bio-diesel, fuel cells, pico-hydro, wind and photo-

voltaic panels.
What are the business opportunities and Ghallenges associated with green telecom inilialives? S C Khanna: As networks are expanding and more operators

are entering the telecom field, the challenges related to providing electricity to these expanding nehvorks are becoming greater, paving way for opportunities to exploit green technologies efficiently. The key driver to demonstrate the cost of enerry efficiency improvement is through Total Cost of Ownership.

nehvork operating costs. The Indian telecom senrice providers are fully conscious of the needs pertaining to the choice of the equipment they use \\rith a diligent evaluation of the power requirements. 'Going green'has become a necessity in a market where margins are constantly reducing due to tariffreductions and increasing cost of inputs for service providers and. manufacturers. With 3G and 4G technologies coming into the picture, data traffic is bound to increase drastically which would make telecom companies aspire to use enerry-efficient networks and data centers. Also, the Next-Generation Nehvorks (NGNs) that allow voice and data functionality onto a common network infrastructure-which was not the case earlier, 8s there was a need to have separate nehvorks for voice and data-would have a positive effect in reducing power requirements.
Which leading providers, 0EMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), and technology companies are heading the green telecom initiatiue?

The ultimate goal of a1l companies is to become carbonneutral, and the only way for most companies to achieve a zero footprint is through carbon offsets and implementation of energ;r-efficient technologies which a^re essential representations of a reduction in GHG emission. Carbon offsets serve as a way for more and more countries and corporations to earn carbon credits which they can then trade in an open marketplace. This can encourage comparries to go green because they can earn by selling their credits to other companies that may be struggting to comply with the mandate. Carbon exchanges, where companies can buy/sell and trade carbon credits, are operating worldwide, although particrpation in many of them is still voluntry, and will open avenues for comparries/corporations to assist green telecom initiatives. Equipment vendors have uln excellent business case for supplyrng enerry-effi.cient and cost-effective nehvork equipments. The senrice providers, in spite of their efforts and best intentions, have not been able to deploy such alternative energy sources as solar/wind/fuel cells in large scale, as these are very costly and are economically unviable. Enerry costs are among the largest operating expenses of nehvork operators, and enerry consumption from telecom nehvorks is an increasing contributor to globat GHG emissions. This environmental issue requires initiatives to improve the enerry efficiency of telecom networks and reduce their associated carbon emissions.
The renewable sources and other non-conventional enerry

S C Khanna: Our member senrice providers and other telecom service providers are efficiently deploying green telecom technologies. With rapid expansion of existing networks due to addition of subscribers, the role of energy efficiency is considerate. As regards OEMs, most of the leading
equipment manufacturers are adopting green telecom initiative in their device and equipment manufacturing. Vikram Tiwathia: Our members, Ericsson, Huawei, Cisco, 42
I May 2011

required for telecom sector should be available at affordable costs. The present cost structure for utilizing alternative
I The Analysl

Indian Telecom

sources of enerry is not at affordable rate. Also, the payback period for investment in energy-efficient equipment is very hieh.

print. As a welcome step towards green telecom, operators

have started promoting e-bills and creating awareness among the subscribers to avail the same facility to sustain a
greener approach.

Vikram Tiwathia: Resorting to green technologies to reduce power consumption is a business imperative as much as it is a social responsibility. There is a huge incentive for equipment vendors, tower companies and network senrice providers for bringing out'green products' and'green processes' and they have been constantly investing in this sector. However, if subsidies and easy availability of renewable energy sources can be ensured, further optimization in energy requirements can be achieved in the near future.
How do you see the role ol the government in boosting the initiatives and shaping the course 0f green telecom? S C Ktranna: The government should aggressively encourage the use of non-conventional enerry sources and support the stakeholders in various forms like capital expenditure subsidy, concessional rates for various government levies/taxes, etc. Also, capital subsidy support, tax credits and low interest financing must be provided by the government. Formulation of policies to encourage the use of non-conventional sources of energy like solar energy and wind energy, wherever possible,

In the paper "ICT, Enabler of a Low Carbon Economy'', senrice providers identift the many opportunities for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support environmental sustainability and describe the role of ICT for a low-carbon economy. Given this backdrop, how do you see the future prospects of lndian
telecom?

S C Khanna: The service providers are aware and recognize the importance of reducing carbon footprint and improving enerry efficiency. The impact of cellular mobile is far lower when it comes to energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions, despite its rapid growth. It has been estimated that approximately 0.L4Vo of global CO2 emissions and approximately A.L2Vo of prim ary energy use are attributable to mobile telecom. This compares with 2O7o of CO2 emissions and approximately 23Vo of primary energy use for travel and

will be of great help. Vikram Tiwathia: The infusion

of more funds/capital for investing in'green'should be taken. Given the high costs of product development in green technology, the government should provide necessary incentives to make it a viable business case for their deploJrunent, especially in rural markets. Efforts should be made to ensure that the grid power is made avail-

transpofr, for example. Thus, looking at the low estimate of carbon emission from the telecom industry as it is, the senrice providers are making all possible endeavors to adopt green technologies to reduce the overall carbon footprint from the telecom industry. The rate at which the Indian telecom is growing is unimaginable and thus opens up avenues for technological
advancement and an environment-friendly approach. Green telecom holds a greener future, with significantly

able to the mobile operators on a priority basis. The pilots and steps already taken by the telecom industry for the use of green technologies should be incentivized for scaling up.
What are the best practices being implemented by the lelecom operators across the globe?

reduced carbon emission and deployment of alternative sources of energy by the senrice providers. It also paves way for a cost-effective environment and reduced dependence on conventional sources of energy like grid power.
Any other comments?

S C Khanna: Senrice providers are focusing on the development of alternative projects such as solar or wind energy to reduce their GHG emissions. Most of our member service providers are encouraging recycling ofwaste materials, including non-usable network materials and mobile phones. Service providers are also using green shelters or deploying outdoor towers wherever found feasible to reduce the power consumption. They are also trying to minimize the number of towers through more tower sharing to reduce the carbon footprint. Members are also proactively deploying cost-effective and energy-efficient nehvorks to considerably reduce carbon foot-

Vikram Tiwathia: The present situation where

60Vo of

the

energy comes fi'om diesel and 407o from the gnd needs to be changed to at least half of energy from the hvo sources combined to reduce pollution.

Also, ensuring lower frequency spectrum availability

(700 Mhz) for mobile and broadband networks can consider-

ably reduce the number of base stations required and thus help in reducing the GHG emissions considerably.
* Secretary General, Association

of

**seniorDirect""tt,Hrtff il::ff?:ff:"X1*ff:
of

India, New Delhi energ"y

to the government that the proposed

implementation of green telecom should not increase their cost of network. In this regard, Girish Kumar said, "The life of human beings, birds, animals and environment is more valuable than that of the cost to be incurred for going green. Companies will need to bear the initial cost but it will be absorbed over the years."
I The Analyst
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Moreover, the problem of e-waste is also alarming the telecom industry. Hence, analysts opine that manufacturers have to move towards a healthy way of discharging the waste material. The industry as a whole has to work towards a collaborative approach

footprint. In all, a renewable

revolution should take off in the

telecom industry. By reducing the energy consumption in the network and deploying alternative energy solutions,

the industry is expected to implement green telecom effectively sooner than

later. r

starting from the scratch by creating an eco-friendly network system without adding much to the global carbon

- Y Bala Bharathi

and G P Mrudhula

Reference # 01M-201 1-05-09-01

May 2011

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